Hurt
by jynxieminxie
Summary: After the baby switch secret comes out Carly takes a good look at her life and makes a decision about Todd. Todd/Carly with a hint of Jarly.


**Summary: **After the baby switch secret comes out Carly takes a good look at her life and makes a decision about Todd. Todd/Carly with a hint of Jarly.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own General Hospital. (if I did my babies would be treated better._) _The characters belong to American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. I'm not making any money off of this (sadly) and no infringement intended. So please don't sue. Really I have no money.

**Hurt**

It had been a little over a week since her world imploded all around her. All because of a lie so devastating that it had wrecked many lives...and killed one. "_Jason is dead_." Those three words kept echoing in her head, haunting her. As Carly looked over the destruction of the hotel room she couldn't help but see the shattered remains of dreams she didn't realize that she was still holding on to. Truth was that she didn't want to.

It had come out that Todd Manning and Heather Webber had switched Sam McCall's living baby with Tea' Delgado's dead one. everyone was angry with Todd, Carly included. She wouldn't even talk to him to hear what he had to say. Heather was certifiable loon, what excuse could he possibly have to hurt someone she loved so much? Jason was the only one in her life who had never given up on her. Who always been there for her no matter what crazy, unforgivable thing she had done. She didn't want to waste any energy on Todd and instead threw herself into helping Jason and Sam however she could.

_I hurt myself today_

_To see if I still feel_

_I focus on the pain_

_The only thing that's real_

_The needle tears a hole_

_The old familiar sting_

_Try to kill it all away_

_But I remember everything_

Then Liz's guilty conscience got the better of her, and she admitted that she had switched the DNA results. Jason and Sam decided to go to Llanview to get their son back and tell Tea' the truth. They didn't know that Heather Webber would be there. They didn't know she had a gun. That bitch shot Jason in the heart, before he ever had the chance to even see his son. Thankfully, Sam and Tea' had been able to wrestle the gun from Heather. But the damage was done. Tea' lost her son for a second time. Her best friend was gone.

After the funeral, Carly went to the Floating Rib to say goodbye Jason. To say she got drunk was an understatement. The more she drank the angrier she got. Finally, she left and went to the Metro-Court intending to kill Todd. Or make his life a living hell, whichever came first. When she got there he seemed to have the same idea she had, there was liquor bottles everywhere. The fight had been intense to say the least. There wasn't a single glass object they hadn't broken. It had been volatile and while Carly was sure she should be scared of him she was** pissed** to care.

"What kind of monster would do something like that?!" She screamed at him. Todd laughed bitterly at her. "You wouldn't understand." She yelled back. "TRY ME!"

And he did. He told her about who he really was. The real Todd Manning. He told her about Marty, Spring Fling and everything from between then and now.

_What have I become?_

_My sweetest friend_

_Everyone I know_

_Goes away in the end_

_You could have it all_

_My empire of dirt_

_I will let you down_

_I will make you hurt_

She knew she should hate him, that he should sicken her. That's what an ordinary person would feel. Oddly enough him telling her the truth about himself brought on the opposite reaction in her. Carly thought about everything that Todd had told her. She could see all the parallels between his life and hers. The toxic relationships, the schemes, the plans, the abuses. But there was one thing she had that Todd never did. Jason. He never had someone to catch him. Someone to keep him grounded and sane.

_I wear this crown of shit_

_Upon my liar's chair_

_Full of broken thoughts_

_I cannot repair_

_Beneath the stains of time_

_The feelings disappear_

_You are someone else_

_I am still right here_

She wanted to hate him. God, she desperately wanted to. But how many times had she done something completely crazy when she was scared or angry? How much of it had come from a place of love when she trying to protect her family? As much she hated to admit it, that was exactly what he was trying to do for Tea'. He felt guilty for killing the man she loved. He knew she desperately wanted her baby...and thanks to Heather he had thought that Sam didn't want hers. To him the choice had been clear.

To her own amazement she began to tell him her story. The real Carly Benson. Everything from when she first came to town to find Bobbie to now. She told him the real reason she had wanted to wreck her mother's life for the abuses she had suffered at the hands of the woman she gave her daughter to. She told him things she never told anyone...not even Jason.

_What have I become?_

_My sweetest friend_

_Everyone I know_

_Goes away in the end_

_You could have it all_

_My empire of dirt_

_I will let you down_

_I will make you hurt_

After that they had been silent. Lost in their own thoughts, and completely exhausted. Both physically and emotionally exhausted. Carly moved to the window and stared at the horizon._ 'Where would I be now, if I didn't have Jason in my life_?' The thought gave her chills. She didn't want to know. As the sun began to rise Carly came to a decision. Carly decided to take a leap of faith and turned around and crossed the room slowly to where Todd was sitting with his head in his hands. She got on her knees in front of him and waited till he looked at her.

Carly held his hands in hers and looked in his eyes. "I forgive you."

_If I could start again_

_A million miles away_

_I would keep myself_

_I would find a way_


End file.
